Stricken cruise ship expected to be towed into Ensenada on Wednesday [Updated]

A cruise ship left powerless by an engine fire is expected to be towed into Ensenada on Wednesday morning, and buses will meet passengers for the trip back to Southern California, the cruise ship company and the U.S. Navy announced Tuesday.

Tugboats are scheduled to bring the ship, with its 3,299 passengers and 1,167 crew members, into Ensenada, where it will undergo emergency repairs before returning to its home port of Long Beach.

The ship is approximately 160 miles southwest of San Diego, 140 miles from Ensenada.

[Updated, 2:40 p.m.: Ensenada's port director, Carlos Jauregui, said he does not expect the ship to arrive before Thursday morning given the distance it has to travel.]

The Morgenthau, a high-endurance Coast Guard cutter out of Alameda, will stay with the 952-foot-long Carnival Splendor until it reaches Long Beach, officials said.

The cruise ship, on the first day of a seven-day cruise to the Mexican Riviera, had a fire in the generator compartment on Monday, officials said. There were no injuries, but the fire knocked out several systems.

The U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan was ordered into the area to help with the delivery of relief supplies. Planes from North Island Naval Air Station at Coronado are taking 70,000 pounds of food and other items to the carrier, which will transfer the supplies to the cruise ship by helicopter, the Navy said.

The ship's flush toilets are operating, but its air conditioning, telephones and hot-food service are still not working, officials said.

Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines has promised a full refund for passengers. The company is also investigating what effect the fire might have on other scheduled cruises.

The company is paying the military for the food and supplies, officials said.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: A photo released by the U.S. Navy shows the Carnival Splendor, stranded off the coast of Mexico. Credit: U.S. Navy, Petty Officer 3rd Class Dylan McChord / Associated Press

Comments

[Major Variola (ret)]

"The company is paying the military for the food and supplies, officials said."

Nice to hear that.

[what?]

"The company is paying the military for the food and supplies, officials said."

That would be the least expensive part of bringing an aircraft carrier to the rescue :/

[Tony C.]

Thats pretty unfortunate for the passengers of the cruise ship but its very cool the company is providing a full refund and paying the military back for the food and supplies. It's a good thing power failure was the only problem with the ship and no lives or "ships" were lost. Things happen. It looks like the passengers are in good hands.

[TakeNotesSon]

Wow! I'm sure taking a bus home was not the intention of these passengers. But at least everyone is safe and accounted for.

[Randy]

Thank god the toilets are working....imagine what it would be like if they weren't.

[Red Rob Reb]

... That would be the least expensive part of bringing an aircraft carrier to the rescue :/

Posted by: what?

Not much other cost. A bit more nuke fuel used up to move the aircraft carrier maybe. But if the Ronald Reagan is in the area it shouldn't cost extra for it to head that way instead of some other direction. It's not like you have to pay the crewmen extra. Most of them will probably welcome the change in monotony.

[Ken T]

As a travel agency owner in San Pedro, CA- I hope that Carnival Cruise Lines reimburses the Fed. Gov't all of their expenses- big deal if they say they are going to pay for the food and supplies- but excuse me- how many $100s of thousands of dollars does it take to run the USS Ronald Reagan to help a PRIVATE company for just one day.

[Upset Bruin]

Excuse me. Why should a private company have to reimburse the public money that is being used to save American lives? Private companies run this country and provide jobs. The citizens should be grateful that the company is at least reimbursing for food and supplies. These things should have been on the tax payers' dime in the first place like everything else in this country. Teh auto industry received billions in bailout money. The cruise lines did not.

Heck, the company is going above and beyond its call of duty by reimbursing the passengers in full for the price of the tickets. So what if people lost out on the cruise that was promised? So what that dream family vacation is derailed. They at least got a whole free day cruise out of the company before the fire broke out. Moreover, the passengers are alive.

Just work another year, accrue enough vacation time, take the kids out of school, and come back when you can with your full refund ticket. Please do not ask to be paid for the vacation that was promised and now that is lost. There's next year's trip.

[Rachel C]

sad! I went on a cruise to the mexican rivera in may on the carnival splendor and it was awesome! It was a great ship, amazing crew, and good food.

[Jeanne]

So glad to hear that the U.S. has stepped in to help out -- but better yet that Carnival Cruises is reimbursing the government. I'm sure that most passengers are U.S. citizen and have paid taxes for many years and are getting reimbursed. More cheers to Carnival Cruise Lines to paying back all or part of the money back.